US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO2819

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 002819 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC, DRL; 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON; SECDEF FOR OSD; 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD;TREASURY FOR OASIA-LCARTER 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH; DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2010 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, PGOV, DR, HA 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPATRIATIONS TO HAITI HAVE ENDED 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske.  Reason:  1.4 (a) and (d). 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  The Dominican government has suspended the 
rounding up and deportation of undocumented Haitian 
immigrants from the northern border area, following conflicts 
and threats of mob action  in the town of Hatillo Mayor, 
Montecristi Province.  Operations were carried out under 
supervision of Migration officials from the capital and 
included formal review of documents.  Dominican military 
reportedly processed 1918 individuals May 13-15.  Departing 
Haitians lost property.  Dominican Foreign Minister Morales 
Troncoso received his Haitian counterpart in Santo Domingo on 
May 17 shortly after announcing that deportations were being 
suspended.  End summary. 
 
A Murder and Reprisals 
 
2.  (C) Early on the morning of May 9, a group of Haitian 
males was in a neighborhood store in the town of Hatillo de 
Palma in the northern border province of Montecristi when the 
woman store owner was murdered and her husband was seriously 
wounded    Three Haitians were taken into custody and turned 
over to the local police, while another, allegedly the 
ringleader, appears to have escaped.  Residents of the town 
reacted angrily, threatening members of the community of 
about 2000 Haitians in and near the town.  The town mayor and 
local police force appealed to the military, and by mid-day 
Gen. Caceres, the commander of  the region convened a meeting 
at the municipality, where he urged calm, with little effect. 
 Dominicans threatened and robbed Haitians.  As the Haitians 
left the town, the Dominicans pillaged the abandoned 
residences.  A Dominican-Haitian contact of ours visited the 
town the day following the incident and participated in 
meetings with the mayor.  Our contact found that Hatillo de 
Palma was "very dangerous" with "vigilante" type behavior. 
Residents of the small town were rounding up Haitians and 
those who looked like Haitians in order to take them to the 
border and force them out of the country.  They were 
expressing angry anti-Haitian and anti-black sentiments, in 
keeping with rural custom of seeking retribution through 
reprisal. 
 
3.  (C) Over the period May 11-13, the Dominican military 
appeared in Haitian settlements in the area, beginning with 
Hatillo de Palma.  They arrived with buses, accompanied by 
Migration officials from the capital, and carried out a 
systematic sweep intended to repatriate illegal aliens. 
Virtually all of the 2000 Haitians in Hatillo de Palma had 
already departed.  We understand that Haitians were prevented 
from departing the sites after arrival of the military, even 
if they had already loaded vehicles with possessions.  They 
were obliged to leave behind most possessions.  Gen. Caceres 
told Embassy officers on May 18 that the operation had been 
previously scheduled.  It was a routine operation, he said, 
in which Haitians were detained, put on buses and taken to 
the military garrison in Mao for review of documentation and 
processing for deportation.   The general said that migration 
officials reviewed each case; some of the detainees presented 
documentation that was judged to be false.  Any with 
legitimate residence documents or identity cards were allowed 
to stay.  He gave no indication how many, if any, were found 
to be legal residents.   The three Haitians accused of the 
murder are being detained at the military garrison in Mao. 
 
4.  (C) Operations stretched over several days.  According to 
the general, the troops proceeded in good order, respecting 
rules of engagement.  They were fired upon three times during 
the operations but did not return fire.   Bishop Abreu in Mao 
told Embassy officers that he deplored the attitudes of the 
mob, including the widespread looting, but he questioned 
whether the military had made any effort to differentiate 
between the illegals and Dominicans of Haitian origin. 
 
5. (C) Military authorities in the capital recorded the 
following numbers repatriated through the border crossing at 
Dajabon: 
 
13 May:  698 
14 May:  608 
15 May:  612 
16 May:  0 
 
They commented that this type of activity is cyclical and in 
the overall scheme of things, this incident was fairly 
"normal.8   The situation at the border had returned to 
normal as of Monday, May 16, and they do not anticipate any 
additional violence, repatriations or other repercussions 
based on the incident in Hatillo de Palma. 
 
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Legal Situation 
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6. (SBU) The Migration Law enacted last year appears to 
provide adequate authority for these proceedings, since no 
implementing regulations have been issued and the law is 
subject to broad interpretation.  We understand that a first 
draft was prepared in February of this year but it has not 
yet been provided to government agencies for consultation. 
In addition, there are potential contradictions between the 
Dominican Constitution and certain aspects of the law, such 
as, for example, the legal definition of "transient" (the 
Constitution does not provide citizenship for individuals 
found to be "in transit" in the Republic). 
 
7.  (SBU) Acting chief of the local office of the 
International Organization for Migration Fanny Polonia 
provided to us a list of applicable international conventions 
and treaties to which the Dominican Republic is party, but 
she stressed that while these establish rights and 
obligations, the contracting states have the responsibility 
for creating mechanisms to assure observance.  Polonia 
indicated that IOM could offer technical assistance, if 
requested, on assuring that regulations and procedures 
elaborated by the Dominicans are in keeping with 
international obligations, and IOM could provide training, as 
it did recently with a well-attended seminar for migration 
officers on trafficking in persons. 
 
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Commentaries and Bilateral Situation 
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8.  (SBU) Newspapers have done reporting based on various 
sources, including complaints from non-governmental 
organizations, particularly catholic social organizations , 
active in the Dajabon area.  Some claim that as many as 3000 
persons were repatriated. Stories have focused on individuals 
claiming that their legitimate documentation was not accepted 
and on cases of hardship and family separation.  There have 
been no reports of any lynchings or murders.  Senator Sucre 
Munoz of Barahona province close to the southern border told 
a journalist that a group of hooded vigilantes had hassled a 
group of twenty to thirty Haitians and turned them over to 
the police for repatriation by the migration service. 
 
9.  (U)  Newspapers indicated that Haiti had closed the 
border briefly, but we have no confirmation of this.  On May 
17 Dominican Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso met for 
an hour in a Santo Domingo hotel with his Haitian counterpart 
Herard Abraham and announced cessation of the repatriations 
"for the moment." The two ministers announced plans to 
reactive a binational commission to  protect the rights of 
persons on both sides of the border.  They appeared in media 
photos smiling and shaking hands, reaffirmed "harmonious 
bilateral relations," and pledged to seek solutions to any 
differences. 
 
10.  (U) Earlier that afternoon Morales Troncoso issued a 
press release "lamenting the inconveniences and bad feelings 
that the repatriations of Haitian citizens may be causing." 
He pledged the Government,s "absolute adherence to the 
constitutional order and Dominican migration law as well as 
prevailing international norms on this subject" so that the 
repatriation process is conducted in accord with national 
migration law as well as international human rights norms to 
which the Dominican Republic is a signatory.  According to 
the statement, Dominican authorities "have been instructed to 
avoid actions that might harm the physical or moral integrity 
of Haitian citizens that live in our territory." 
 
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Next USG Steps 
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11.  (U) Embassy officials will pursue at all levels the 
issue of repatriations of undocumented Haitians, pressing for 
greater respect for international norms of humane treatment. 
We will also follow up on our success last year in securing 
passage of an updated Migration Law by pressing for 
completion and decree of implementing regulations. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HERTELL